User blog:El Alamein/Braxas vs. Smaug
Two ferocious monsters take to the skies in a battle of the sexes - dragon style! Braxas, the mighty Icarian dragon queen from HeroScape, who terrorized her enemies with her piercing yellow eyes and noxious acid breath, takes on Smaug, the armored war beast from the Misty Mountains who ravaged the countryside with his scorching fiery breath! It's a contest of the biggest bite and the sharpest wit to decide who is deadliest! Braxas Braxas is a female dragon-queen from the land of Icaria in the miniatures game HeroScape. She is enormous - likely towering 20 feet in height, and her size contributes to the vast physical strength she possesses - she is capable of swatting aside human soldiers like they are no more than pesky flies. Her wings allow her to take to the skies and dominate the battlefield from the air, but certainly her most unique and terrifying aspect is her natural acid breath. Instead of spitting flames like most dragons, Braxas breathes a stream of toxic acid that is enough to burn through the plate armor of knights and cloud up a fog of noxious gas. Braxas is an intimidating figure on the battlefield and her piercing yellow eyes are enough to send weak foes fleeing in terror. Smaug Smaug was one of the last of the great Fire Drakes of Middle-Earth. He was infamous, not only for his cruelty and strength, but for his cunning and creative mind, Smaug often made careful plans that would only result in his personal gain, eventually culminating in his destructive invasion of the Misty Mountains, killing many of the Dwarves who lived there and stealing their countless treasures from them, making their mountain halls his home. The treasures he acquired slowly became stuck firmly to his soft underbelly as he slept on top of them, and they formed a solid layer of armor, protecting him from most attacks from underneath. However, Bard the Bowman took advantage of a small gap in Smaug's armor, shooting a magic black arrow into the Dragon's chest, leading to his death. Battle The icy plains of Icaria are a desolate, snow-swept wasteland, and the human footsoldiers shiver as they trudge along, feet frostbitten and faces numb. The fierce wind howls audibly and batters into the infantrymen, masking the sound of the furious beating of wings. Over the horizon soars Braxas the dragon queen, hissing and dripping acid in sinister globs of saliva. The company of men shout and give orders, raising their muskets or rifles or bows and firing in fear, their scattered firing inefficient. Braxas dives downward through the air, past the projectiles, and spits a stream of acid, blanketing the soldiers below. The acid sears through their ragged clothes and burns into their skin, and as they cry in pain and gasp for breath, the noxious cloud kicked up leaves them to pass out and die on the barren tundra floor. Braxas flies through the freezing air, the chilling winds gliding along her sleek body as she gracefully curves through the air. Visibility is low, and a passing glance to the side reveals a blurry shadow of a massive creature flying by through the air. Braxas hesitates, roaring in her draconic language. Who goes there? The wind howls in reply. Braxas snorts in mild annoyance, and turns to continue her flight, when a harsh male voice responds in a fierce growl. A dragon. The Icarian queen whips around furiously at the imprudent behavior directed her way. Snarling, she poses one angry question: Fool! Have you any idea who I am? An enormous red fire drake - Smaug of Misty Mountain - barrels through the air and slams into Braxas in response. The dragon queen tumbles toward the ground, spreading her wings and soaring upward at the last second. To the death! Braxas roars. Indeed'.'' Smaug replies drily. He opens his mouth lazily, spitting flames that crackle in the cold air and light up the darkening sky. Braxas flies higher still, avoiding the initial blast, and responds with a stream of liquid acid flying from her maw. The acid catches Smaug's armored belly, and it drips along the gold seared to his body, slowly trickling off of him into the wind. The two dragons hover in the sky for a brief moment and lock eyes, Braxas' piercing yellow ones meeting Smaug's haughty gold ones. Smaug attempts to penetrate Braxas' mind in a hypnotizing glare, but Braxas throws her head angrily to the side and unleashes a piercing shriek, stunning Smaug. Braxas speeds downward toward Smaug as he tumbles toward the ground, spitting acid in rage. As Smaug recovers and looks up, the acid splashes onto his face, eating into one of his eyes and oozing down into his nostrils. The fire drake slams into the ground in pain, cracking the white ice and sending shards flying into the air. Braxas lands gracefully next to her writhing opponent and bends over, putting one venomous claw next to Smaug's neck. And now... Braxas whispers, die. She raises her arm to bring down the final blow, but Smaug's good eye snaps open and he rakes his claws across Braxas' midsection, drawing blood. Braxas recoils in fury and Smaug lunges foward, snapping his teeth. Fire jets out of his nostrils, stopping just short of the dragon queen. Braxas begins to salvivate, backing away from the advancing Smaug. As the fire dies down and Smaug goes to take a breath, Braxas spits her acid at her foe, the noxious poison splashing all around the ice and across Smaug's torso, doing little damage against his golden armor. Dirty tricks, dirty tricks... Smaug mutters to himself. Braxas shoots up into the air once more, the blood from her stomach wound still flowing freely. Smaug shakes his head and snorts hard to get the acid out of his nose before he, too, takes to the skies. Braxas is nowhere to be found. Where are you? Smaug roars, whipping his head around, looking through the storm. Snow flies into his face and he flinches. Before he can open his eyes, Braxas flies through the snow and bites hard on Smaug's snout, her teeth penetrating deep through his flesh and nearly taking off the front part of his mouth. Her claws scratch viciously at his belly, trying desperately to find a weak spot - and the weak spot is found, the claws digging deep into the one unprotected spot in Smaug's armor. Smaug instinctively lets loose a blast of fire from his nose that goes through Braxas' mouth clamped over his nostrils and into her body. The Icarian queen's greatest mistake is her last as the fire scorches her insides, leaving her untouched exterior to slacken its grip on Smaug's snout and slide down his face before it plummets, lifeless and charred, to the icy ground below. Smaug hacks in pain and winces at the sound of the ''thud ''below as Braxas hits the tundra floor. Weakly, he makes a landing and looks hopelessly for shelter in the storm to try and deal with his wounds that are festering noxiously within him. Victorious, Smaug will not survive the night. '''WINNER: SMAUG Expert's Opinion Although Braxas' poisonous attacks were powerful, Smaug's larger size and armored underbelly allowed him to sustain the damage long enough to deal his slower, harder-hitting attacks against the dragon queen. This battle was nearly closed as a draw, but Smaug's physical strength in a close-quarters fight was the final deciding factor that led to his victory. Category:Blog posts